Varan 2011878 224617618 2008-07-09T17:58:25Z JohnVMaster 1321758 /* Game appearances */ {| class="infobox" style="width: 21em; font-size: 90%; text-align: left" |- ! colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | ''[[Toho]]'' character |- | colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | [[Image:Varan flying.jpg|250px]] |- ! colspan="2" style="text-align:center; font-size: larger; background-color: #001; color: #ffa;" |Varan |- ! Species | [[Varanopode]] |- ! Alias | Baradagi-Sanjin<br>O-baki (English dub name) |- ! Height | 50 metres |- ! Weight | 15,000 tons |- ! Air speed | Mach 1.5 |- ! Major enemies | [[King Ghidorah]] |- ! Major allies | [[Godzilla]]<br>[[Mothra]]<br>[[Rodan]]<br> [[Baragon]]<br>[[Minilla]]<br>[[Anguirus]]<br>[[Gorosaurus]] |- ! Controlled by | [[List of Toho alien races#Kilaaks|Kilaaks]] |- ! First appearance | ''[[Varan the Unbelievable]]'' |- ! Created by | [[Ken Kuronuma]] |- ! Portrayed by: | [[Haruo Nakajima]]<br>[[Katsumi Tezuka]] |} '''Varan''' (バラン - Baran) is a [[kaiju]] that first appeared in ''[[Varan the Unbelievable]]'' (1958). Physically, Varan resembles a giant [[marine iguana]] with skin membranes between his arms and legs, allowing him to glide much like a [[flying squirrel]], and a horned head similar to that of kajiu [[King Ghidorah]]. ===Film history=== In his first appearance, Varan is a creature that lives in a saltwater lake within the Kunishiroshima valley, where he is known to the natives as ''Baradagi-Sanjin''. He is worshipped as a god by the natives very much like [[King Kong]], and is said to have lived in the valley for thousands of years. He kills an expedition duo and then completely destroys the village. The monster proceeds to attack Tokyo and is seemingly unstoppable until he is tricked by the military into eating bombs. But it is unknown if the bombs really killed him until his reappearance in ''[[Destroy All Monsters]]''. Varan reappears in ''Destroy All Monsters'' living on [[Monsterland and Monster Island|Monster Island]] with many other kaiju including [[Godzilla]]. Varan is seen in the climax, joining the other Earth monsters to fight against the King Ghidorah, though he does not actually participate in the fight. After King Ghidorah is defeated, Varan, along with the other kaiju return to Monster Island. ===Lost Projects=== In one of the early drafts of what would become ''[[Godzilla vs Gigan]]'', Varan was to have joined Godzilla and [[Rodan]] in defending the Earth against King Ghidorah, [[Gigan]] , and a new monster that had never been seen before with the name Mogu .<ref>[http://www.kaijuphile.com/rodansroost/scrapyard/rogshowa.shtml Rodan's Roost: Kaiju Scrap-yard: Return of King Ghidorah<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Shusuke Kaneko, director of the popular [[Heisei era (daikaiju eiga)|Heisei]] [[Gamera]] trilogy had originally considered Varan, along with Anguirus to star in ''[[Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack]]'' as antagonists to Godzilla. Varan and Anguirus were however replaced with the far more popular ''[[Mothra]]'' and ''[[King Ghidorah]]''.<ref>[http://www.kaijuphile.com/rodansroost/scrapyard/vba.shtml Rodan's Roost: Kaiju Scrap-yard: Varan, Baragon, Anguirus: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack - Godzilla 2002<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Supposedly, the suit designer tried to compromise by giving some of Varan's facial features to King Ghidorah. ===Game appearances=== *[[Godzilla: Monster of Monsters]] (1988) [[Nintendo]] *[[Monster King Godzilla]] (1993) [[Game Boy]] *[[Godzilla: Unleashed]] (2007) [[Wii]] *[[Godzilla Trading Battles]] (1998) [[PS1]] Varan was considered for ''[[Godzilla: Save the Earth]]'', but was scrapped at some point. Varan made his first playable video game appearance in the Wii version of ''[[Godzilla: Unleashed]]'' as an Earth Defender, though he is not in the PS2 version. In Godzilla: Unleashed, he is given the ability to fire a sonic beam and a concentrated sonic energy ball. He has a gliding ability that works much like Rodan's flying, he can be unlocked by destroying the three purple objects on the Vortaak mothership while playing as an Alien. ===Action Figures=== Few figures of Varan have been issued compared to other kaiju and [[Bandai]] has issued no figures as of yet. The only figure released on the 6" scale was by Y-MSF in 2005. == Footnotes == <references/> {{Toho Kaijū}} [[Category:Fictional deities]] [[Category:Film characters]] [[Category:Fictional demons]] [[Category:Fictional dinosaurs]] [[Category:Fictional characters who can fly]] [[Category:Fictional characters with superhuman strength]] [[Category:Godzilla characters]] [[Category:Mothra characters]] [[Category:Kaiju]]